Reimagine Athenry

Reimagine Athenry

A community led vision for one of Ireland’s most intact medieval towns.

Re-imagine Athenry is a design led analysis and study of Athenry town in County Galway Ireland. Athenry is a town brimming with potential, with the most intact town walls of any medieval Irish town, alongside a refurbished 13C Castle, a Priory and medieval street structure make it a place steeped in history. The town walls have given shape to the medieval centre with its fine urban grain and human scale streets and squares there is history to be found on every corner.

Despite these qualities the town is suffering from a number of factors common to similar size Irish towns. In the centre, derelict sites and shop fronts bring a feeling of disrepair while cardominated streets and public spaces leave little room or comfort for the pedestrian. Developments at the periphery have changed the traditional face of the town and the centre needs new investment to again make it a regional meeting point.

The goals of Reimagine Athenry is to work together with the community to identify both the problems and potentials and to prioritise together a number of key projects that can help unlock the latent qualities in the town.

The project is currently in progress and will be completed in the summer of 2019